Bathroom Remodeling in Dripping Springs, TX

Acreage houses from the 1970s through the 1990s have baths that were built once and left alone. Cast iron or fiberglass tubs, cultured marble, a shower pan over a liner, and supply lines narrowed by decades of hard well water. The softener, if there is one, often bypasses the bathrooms. Exhaust fans vent into attics. Every drain in the house ends at a septic tank that was designed for a specific number of bedrooms, which matters the moment you want to add a bathroom.

Belterra's 2000s and 2010s primaries and the newer Caliterra and Headwaters baths are large and conventional: a drop-in tub under a window, a curbed shower with a pre-formed pan, a long vanity with doors, and tile to seven feet. PEX plumbing, 200-amp panels, slabs on limestone that stay flat. Those slabs make a curbless shower simple to recess and a drain relocation expensive, because the cut is through rock.

On acreage we start with the supply. Scaled lines get replaced while walls are open, the softener loop gets corrected so the bathrooms are on it, and fixtures are chosen for hard water. Then the old tub comes out and a walk-in shower goes in on a full waterproofing system with a linear drain. If the project adds a bathroom to the house, we find out what the septic system was designed for before we draw a single line, because the answer can change the scope.

In Belterra, Caliterra, and Headwaters the tub deck comes out and the shower takes the wall, curbless where the slab allows, with tile to the ceiling and a freestanding tub under the window if the room has width. Vanities get drawers, mirrors get taller, and lighting moves to face height. Hall baths with kids' tubs stay tubs with better tile. Heated floors are a common request in these houses and the panels carry them easily.

Inside the city limits, bathroom remodels that move plumbing or add circuits are permitted through the City of Dripping Springs. Most of the acreage and parts of Belterra and Headwaters are outside the limits in Hays County, where there is no city building permit for interior work. State law still requires licensed plumbers and electricians, and that is who we use. Adding a bathroom or a bedroom on a septic system can trigger a review by Hays County, and we check with the county before promising a layout.

The master-planned HOAs review exterior changes such as a new window over a tub and set work hours. Acreage covenants are lighter. The drive out 290 means tile, stone, and glass get staged ahead and the glass measurement is scheduled for the day tile is done. A primary bath runs 4 to 6 weeks, a hall bath 3 to 4, and glass adds about two weeks. Price is fixed in writing before demo, and the owner is on site.